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If you have a burning desire to know the origins of caustic, you're already well on your way to figuring it out. Caustic was formed in Middle English as an adjective describing chemical substances, such as lime and lye, that are capable of destroying or eating away at something. The word is based on the Latin adjective causticus, which itself comes ultimately from the Greek verb kaiein, meaning "to burn." In time, caustic was baked into the English language as an adjective describing people or things (such as wit or remarks) that are bitingly sarcastic. Other kaiein descendants in English include cautery and cauterize, causalgia (a burning pain caused by nerve damage), and encaustic (a kind of paint that is heated after it's applied).
Synonyms
Examples of caustic in a Sentence
Garry Wills, Atlantic, April 1994
It was Schuyler's gift for satire and his caustic wit that distinguished his writings and led to his nickname, the Black Mencken.
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times Book Review, 20 Sept. 1992
Albert quailed before those caustic pronouncements, he shuddered and blanched and felt his stomach drop like a croquette into a vat of hot grease.
—T. Coraghessan Boyle, Harper's, October 1987
The chemical was so caustic that it ate through the pipes.
She wrote a caustic report about the decisions that led to the crisis.
Tara John, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024
The question is posed by a young man (Josh O’Connor) interviewing a prickly Miller (Kate Winslet) about her life and work at her home in England in 1977, probing and provoking her in the hopes of extracting more profound answers than her usual caustic one-liners.
—Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2024
Just about every other domain — from social media to family life — can feel ripe for demonizing attacks and caustic rhetoric.
—Tarun Galagali, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
The former president has doubled down on caustic speech in a bid to bolster his support among men, which could lose him critical female voters — where Harris enjoys a large lead.
—Amie Parnes, The Hill, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for caustic 
Dictionary Entries Near caustic
Cite this Entry
“Caustic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caustic. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
caustic
1 of 2 adjective
caustic
2 of 2 noun
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